letter to the editor in the latest Transworld...

[skategeezer]

A guy writes in explaining that he's skated for a number of years and that he rides vert etc. He also mentions he longboards. Then he asks the editor if it would kill the magazine to write maybe once in the year about downhill and the emerging longboard scene.

The editor wrote some sarcastic crap back and titled his letter YAWNBOARDING.

I want to go on record and state that this is bogus and while every skate magazine editor is entitled to his or her opinion, it doesn't HELP the cause in anyway Transworld by being such dicks. OPEN YOUR MINDS GUYS!

I know the guys at Transworld PERSONALLY...I consider them buddies.

It bugs me that they did this, but it doesn't surprise me.

I was angry and then I realized...these guys don't get it now, and they'll probably never get it and so what? I wasn't even going to post this, because I figured it would create a sh*tstorm...and then I thought, screw it. They were asked nicely to give a drop of attention to something other than rails and ledges (and the occasional vert shot) and they ####### blew it. They made a reader feel like #### and they insulted fellow skaters.

Not cool..but typical. Typical of the "I'm cooler than thou" approach taken on by narrow minded editors. WAKE UP!! You don't operate in your own frickin' universe...it's a two way street in terms of communication...and you are missing a HUGE part of skateboarding.

But then, I take a step back from this and realize it's all part of the plan. The more they ignore what's going on in skateboarding, the stronger this movement gets. The blank issue, the move to China, too many pros, the incestuous nature of the skate biz, the pandering to soft goods companies....it's just another symptom.

When all is said and done, I have fun skateboarding with ALL types of skateboards (and writing about them as well). Sadly many of my fellow editors can't see how anything but a popsicle shape with hard durometer wheels can be fun...which is a real shame. Their loss, not mine.

Each year, this movement gets stronger, not weaker...despite their best efforts to ignore it.

this is the issue

[bucksaw87]

well, transworld has a certain clientele that they're trying to cater to. we're talking the high-school, Bam Margera skatepunks and other hardcore kickflippers...i can understand where they're coming from...but still, their response was kinda harsh for being a magazine that's all about skateboarding. hell, they ran a small feature on the 2007 models of longboards in their winter 06 issue, so they're obviously not totally opposed to longboards. but i think it is a bit hypocritical to shun longboarding like that

[skategeezer]

precisely.
it IS hypocritical. Don't get me started on demographics...aggggggggggggggggh!

Skaters are open to a lot of things....it just depends how they are presented...

Transworld might argue "well, we only cover what skaters are doing or buying..."
or "it's not progression" or "we don't cover four wheels on the ground"

the fact is that some longboard companies SELL more stuff than some of the companies they cover - point one blown

the fact is that some longboarders are doing some insanely cool things with longboards - point two blown

the fact is that it is VERY difficult to capture the intensity of a guy skating by at 40+ miles per hour...but that's why you have PROFESSIONAL photographers - point 3 blown!

[SteveC]

Do you think they realize how boring their crap is to us?

[ska1234]

is the interview IN the new issue? i think i still get transworld for free. I really dont care about that mag and the only zine i really read is concrete wave but yeah. i ordered some shoes from ccs and got a 10 year subscription or some ####..thats pretty gay.. most people think my longboarding is cool though and itd be even better i was good at the whole boardwalking tricks thing but hey who cares... i like how the longboard scene is semi - underground.....lord knows how stupid it would be if bam rode a loaded board or a gravity.....everyone else would know about it, silverfish would be flooded with posers and kids would make fun of me and call me a poser if i didnt wear a loaded shirt...

[Jemwielder]

I think that's funny cuz they posted web address in their mag about a year or so ago of a guy who was doing all this amazing skating with manuals and handstands and a lot of stuff that they don't usually post. They were defending and supporting it and how Stacy Peralta had called it some of the most difficult and original skating he's ever seen. I guess Transworld can only be open minded when Stacy Peralta tells them it's ok.

[Parallel Man]

Look at it this way.

TRANSWORLD probably gets hundreds if not thousands of LTTE every month. They print some, they trash some.

Here's one from a longboarder. The Editor reads it and takes a special effort in his response to denigrate and insult the writer and those agree with the writer.

It's an overt act. Any answer by an editor in his publication is an overt act. It's not routine, regular or standard procedure. Most answers are along the lines of "we appreciate your stoke and hope your keep on grindin'!" or some such grammatically-challenged sputum. Sometimes the editor will respond, "you're lame and don't deserve to live."

This longboarder and his letter brought forth a vitriolic response composed to elicit as much denigration and simultaneous indifference as possible. It's the old conumdrum of wanting to pretend you don't care but taking the time to write a response. To anyone with a lick of sense it's pretty obvious if they don't care and think it's "yawnboarding," they wouldn't take the time to respond.

TRANSWORLD has pretty much staked out its area of interest and made a determined effort to insult anything outside of it's sphere of advertiser and editorial perview.

Now everyone who doesn't kickflip, grind or stand around posing in new Vans knows where they stand with this publication. Be sure to show your appreciation with your wallet.

[wilder]

Its so funny. cant they see they are killing them selves slowly? now i dont think that "regular skateboarding" will die anytime soon, but of course it will slow down and whatnot. so if longboarding, slalom, downhill, sliding gets more popular, they are just shooting themselves in the foot.

so when transworld starts having articles on Downhill and and Sergio is on the cover, is the core, original longboard crew gonna buy it?

they only sell, what is selling. and that leaves no room for improvement.

[SteveC]

Their magazine is catered towards their advertisers. fair enough, thats how you survive.
Their advertisers promote what sells the most skateboards. I.E. you breaking it and buying a new one.

so they only want to see photos of the type of skating that sells (read destroys) skateboards.
thats why the skate and destroy attitude is promoted.

and most the crap we get from the public/law is a direct result of them promoting a culture that sells more...

they can shove their magazine.

[Pyrofly]

Crazy. I was going to write about this exact thing! It's pretty sad to see how something that used to be a vehicle for individual expression that appealed to "outsiders" is now mutating into this conformist thing. Be a certain way, or be ridiculed by the masses. Damn, the fact that skateboarding was such an individual thing was what got me into skating back in high school.

If it helps at all, I noticed that at my local bookstores, the concrete wave's latest issue sold out pretty quick and Transworld is still flooding the shelves. Of course, I don't know anything about the mag publishing industry, and that could just be because they print a billion copies of each issue.

[revelation2]

I hate the name of their website.

Skateboarding.com...pfffh. Right. They should call it Streetandvertskating.com.

However,
I read it from cover to cover and then handed it off to a friend of mine. It's nice to know what's going on in the worlds of street and vert skateboarding. I think that likewise a lot of us can get sucked into the "longboarding" scene too much. There are friends of mine who refuse to call their longboards skateboards.

For the love of God, it's all skateboarding. And I love it.

Three cheers for Concrete Wave.

[MrCokesNSmokes]

So, Transworld is lame, and not worth reading, because they're hypocritical bastards that pander to their incredibly shallow and myopic advertisers.....

I'm sorry, but... what was I supposed to be suprised about, again........?